"Serious gaps seen in airline security since 9/11 attacks"

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Serious gaps seen in airline security since 9/11 attacks
By Audrey Hudson
The Washington (DC) Times


Congress has spent billions to protect against future airplane hijackings,
but critics say many changes made are haphazard and misguided and that
serious security gaps remain in place five years after the September 11
terrorist attacks. 

"We are a token amount safer only because we are more aware -- but nowhere
near safe enough to be confident," says David Mackett, director of the
Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "The systems we've spent billions on have
a record that is anything but confidence inspiring." 

Mr. Mackett says airline security is a "patchwork" of "desperate attempts"
to appear safe without offering long-term solutions. 

Reinforcing cockpit doors is the accomplishment most cited by government
officials to keep terrorists from gaining the controls of airplanes, but Mr.
Mackett says several breaches have occurred putting pilots at risk. 

"We're just trying to keep the pies from falling off the end of the conveyer
belt," said Mr. Mackett, a commercial airline pilot. 

In one incident, a drunken passenger kicked a door panel open during a
flight to Argentina, and a passenger on another flight watched a crew member
input the door code and later used that code to open the door, thinking it
was the lavatory. In another incident, on a bet, a cleanup crew drove a
beverage cart through a door, Mr. Mackett said. 

In a speech Friday at Georgetown University, Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff said, "We have succeeded in laying over the last five years
a solid foundation for the future of our aviation-security efforts for the
five years and the 10 years to come." 

He cited the hardening of cockpit doors, "thousands" of federal air marshals
"on aircraft protecting travelers every day all over the world" and "armed
flight deck officers authorized and trained to defend the cockpit." 

"To be sure, there's more to do," he said. "The enemy constantly adapts his
tactics and his methods. And we have to keep pace and get ahead of those." 

While all airlines have installed new doors, United Airlines is the only
company that has installed steel cable barriers to prevent someone from
charging the flight deck. 

"Pilots still leave the flight deck vulnerable when they go in and out to
use the lavatory or when the flight attendants serve them food and
beverages," says one former air marshal. 

Only a small fraction of 25,000 to 30,000 daily flights are protected by air
marshals -- who number less than 2,500 due to high attrition -- or about
6,000 armed pilots who complete the burdensome Federal Flight Deck Officers
(FFDO) requirements set by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).


"Few pilots are armed because TSA insists on making the FFDO program so
difficult," the marshal said. 

"There has not been nowhere near the amount of [federal air marshals] hired
to replace the ones that have left in the last four years," he said. 

Pilots have to undergo more background and psychological investigations even
though the airlines and Federal Aviation Administration have already
completed such tests, and have to spend their own money for the training in
Artesia, N.M. 

"Right now, our last line of defense is for a military jet to shoot down an
airplane," Mr. Mackett said. "It's tough to explain why a military pilot has
the missile, but an airline pilot doesn't have a gun to protect his own
aircraft."

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